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Guitarist and J. Geils Band leader dies at 71

By  Darel Jevens
   
SHARE Guitarist and J. Geils Band leader dies at 71
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J. Geils performs at a 2010 concert in Fenway Park in Boston. | John W. Ferguson/Getty Images

Guitarist John Warren Geils Jr., whose namesake J. Geils Band scored the Top 5 singles “Freeze-Frame” and “Centerfold,” has died at age 71, Boston TV station WCVB reports.

The station said he was found dead in his Groton, Massachusetts, home.

Before scoring heavy radio and MTV play, the J. Geils band was known as a powerhouse touring act, built around the charisma of singer Peter Wolf and the harmonica wizardry of the bandmate known as Magic Dick.

Wolf left the band for a solo career in 1983 and the group broke up shortly thereafter but staged several reunions in the decades that followed.


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